Red Sox Notes: Lackey, Beckett, Payroll

John Lackey's five-year, $82.5MM contract with the Red Sox was officially announced today. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets the details: the frontloaded deal pays a $3.5MM signing bonus, $18MM in 2010, and $15.25MM in each of the next four seasons. On to some Lackey-related links…

WEEI's Rob Bradford has a transcript of the press conference. Sox GM Theo Epstein said he was surprised Lackey was interested in coming to Boston. Lackey said he had negotiations with more than two teams.

In another post, Bradford relays a quote from Epstein saying that the GM texted Josh Beckett to tell the pitcher he's still a huge part of the team's future. Beckett is eligible for free agency after the season. Will he have a huge contract year?

WEEI's Alex Speier says Boston's payroll is at an all-time franchise high and projects to be just under the $170MM luxury tax threshold. Once they get over $170MM there is a 22.5% penalty.